The husband-wife duo behind hit Bible TV series are among the top 20 richest couples in Britain, according to the rich list drawn up by The Sunday Times.

Mark Burnett and Roma Downey came in at number 17 in the list, with a net worth of £340m.

They are behind The Bible TV miniseries that became a ratings hit for the History Channel last year, with 13.1 million tuning into the first episode alone.

It gave rise to a film adaptation called Son of God that went on to make over $67m in cinemas worldwide.

A sequel to The Bible – AD: Beyond the Bible – is being planned and the couple have also been signed on to the movie remake of Ben Hur.

The TV power couple ranked higher in the list than TV chef Jamie Oliver and his wife Jools, with their joint fortune of £240m.

They also outdid David and Victoria Beckham, who together have amassed £210m from football, fashion, and various endorsements.

The Sunday Times released the list of Britain's 1,000 richest people on Sunday and has been releasing breakdowns throughout the week. Today's follow-up focused on richest couples.

The 1,000 richest Britons have had a great year, owning collectively around a third of the national gross domestic product and seeing their combined wealth rise to £449.65bn, an increase of 15.4 per cent on last year's total of £449.65bn,.

If your dream is to one day feature on the list, start saving now. You would have needed at least £85m to even qualify for this year's list.

And if you want to top the list you'll have to save even harder. Tycoons and brothers Gopichand and Srichand Hinduja were crowned Britain's richest people with a joint fortune of £11.9bn.